


Advantage

by mariadperiad20



Series: Foray into B99 [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Drinking, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Introspection, Season 1 Episode 8, Vomiting (mentioned), i just started this show, literally last night was my first full episode, thinking about what could have happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 07:54:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18311405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariadperiad20/pseuds/mariadperiad20
Summary: "You got me drunk and took advantage of me!"





	Advantage

"You got me drunk and took advantage of me!"

It had been a throwaway comment. Jake tended to do that, inject a little bit of humor into his words, reference things that were always instantly recognizable in intention, if not in phrasing. It would get people's attention, cut through the argument straight to the point, stop their justification and make people _listen_. It was an old trick he had picked up, he wasn't even sure where, but it was damn useful.

Jake was by no means a wet blanket. He'd gotten drunk with a lot of people before. _A lot_ a lot of people, actually. Men, women, his coworkers, strangers... well, he just liked to drink. To be fair, he was young, and it was fun. And he was always safe. Never drank more than he should, never went to his own home with anyone, never took his car keys with him. Never did anything too risky.

But Jake was a cop. Of course he knew how to be safe.

Well, he reflected as he threw up in his bathroom, reeking of alcohol, he _should_ know.

He had let his guard down, distracted by his idol, seeking his approval like some kicked puppy who wanted attention from -

Okay, Jake, time to shut that train of thinking down. That sort of thought pattern always leads to negative places and that wasn't what he wanted right now. He could beat himself up about his carelessness later, once his body had stopped trying to dislodge his stomach into his throat.

Jake rested his head on the wall, feeling his heartbeat in his skull. He was sweating, but refused to take off his shirt, lest he die of alcohol poisoning. If he was going to die from his own stupidity, as he suspected he would someday, it was going to be fully clothed, thank you very much.

Okay, so maybe he was being a touch dramatic, but still. He should never have let his guard down like that. Ever.

Jake knew he was lucky. Lucky that Jimmy Brogan was just a sleezebag reporter, lucky that all he had been after was a scoop on Holt and the 99, lucky that when Jake had left, it had been in a taxi, back to his apartment, drunken grin plastered on his face. Alone.

Jake was lucky that when Brogan had seen him wasted, disoriented, unable to so much as raise a hand properly, let alone defend himself, all he had seen was a cop.

He hadn't seen someone to hurt.

Jake gagged, leaning back over the toilet as he dry heaved. He was maybe two drinks from being blackout drunk, probably less. It would have only taken a tiny push, and he wouldn't have remembered a thing beyond wanting to impress Brogan by inviting him out that evening after work. He wouldn't have known if anything would have happened because he wouldn't have been able to remember it.

And even if he had, would Jake have said anything? Brogan was his hero, and Jake had been fawning over him all day. It would have been easy to say he had been wanting something to happen, or even just lying because of a rejection. No way would Jake ever have a case, he knew how these things worked.

The women, and occasional men, who came into the precinct, shaking and crying and always looking like they were about to bolt, covered in evidence, often had ironclad cases. It still wouldn't go anywhere, still would end up on the unsolved pile that was always bursting with sex crimes. Someone, usually Terry because he was so incredibly good at these sorts of things, would get a report down and make them feel better, promise that the force would do everything they could. And then they would never see the evidence again, having long since vanished into some abandoned facility without a care in the world for the person who needed justice done that it had been collected from.

Even if Brogan had looked at him and did see someone he could hurt, it wouldn't have mattered. The end result still would have been the same. Jake, throwing up what felt like a year's supply of booze, barely able to recall a thing that had happened to him except the gut feeling that he had messed up.

Jake was lucky.

He had been taken advantage of in a way that had damaged his relationship with his coworkers. He knew that Amy disapproved, knew that Holt would be disappointed in him. That actually did bother him, a lot more than he really wanted to admit. In his mind, too, the golden picture of Jimmy Brogan had cracked, revealing the man who never bothered to learn how to change with the times behind it. That hurt, too, to have his personal hero turn out to be just like every other magazine writer out there.

But Jake himself was intact.

He should not be grateful, not even for a moment. He was stupid, had done something stupid, and he would have deserved whatever consequences that came out of that stupidity. He had placed his life, his wellbeing and his safety in the hands of a man who didn't give a damn about him beyond his badge. Well, that and the fact his Captain was gay.

Jake had been taken advantage of. Had been used as a means to an end for someone who did not care what happened to him as a result, just how good the story telling it would be.

He would do damage control in the morning, try to soothe relations with the others in the precinct and see just what the hell he had said to Brogan in his drunken state.

But for right now, Jake closed his eyes, took deep breaths, and tried not to get sick again at the thought of what could have been. At how different everything could have gone in a second. If even one variable had been changed. If he had had one more drink, if Brogan had given him a ride, if, if, if.

"You got me drunk and took advantage of me!" It was true. Brogan had gotten him inebriated, and taken advantage of his unguarded state to get info. But Jake was so, so lucky that that was all he had done.

**Author's Note:**

> My first b99 fic! I started watching the show last night and now I am here so... yeah. Please be kind as I trip all over this fandom with my new person boots.
> 
> Comments are fun :)


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